5.19.2012

How We Fill Our Days With JOY!

It's easy for me to take for granted the days I have at home with the girls as we settle into our weekly routine of activities and just living life. But the moment I slow down and look deep into those four beautiful blue eyes I am overwhelmed by God's continued provision and goodness towards our family. We are more than blessed, lacking nothing. He alone sustains each of our lives and He alone fills up my cup each day. My cup is more than full and I hope that every day the Lord will remind me of that truth and give me grace to cherish every moment, the great AND the not so great, with these precious girls we have been entrusted with. Watching them begin to grasp things we are saying, get into millions of messes the minute you take your eyes off them, and seeing their eyes light up with new discoveries has been such a delight! But no matter how much I adore these girls, living life with two babies could make any woman stir crazy if it weren't for the many playdates & outings each week. So without further ado, here's some of the places you might run into us around town =)

You might find us here at the zoo with friends...

or at the zoo as a family...

at the park on a sunny day...

 or at the splash pad on a hotter day...

and now that summer time has arrived, I'm sure we will be doing a whole lot of this...


5.15.2012

Mother's Day 2012

Mother's Day...a reminder of the Lord's amazing grace in my life. Not ONE, but TWO, adorable, bubbly, challenging, mischieveious, spunky, little 13 1/2 month old girls. Girls I would lay down my life for. Girls that make me die to self each and every day. Girls who fill my cup to overflowing. Girls who make me depend more on the Lord. Girls who make me desperate for the Lord to open their eyes to their need for Him. Girls I have to daily give over to the Lord. Girls who brighten up my days. Girls who I love more than anything and girls who are helping me in this whole sanctification process. So thank you Lord for your amazing grace in my life and I pray the same for these two precious girls...that you would extend the same grace towards them!
Not exactly picture perfect, but more of a realistic snapshot of our life!

5.02.2012

13 Month Update!



-Maddie Grace, you are still our more reserved, go with the flow baby! You do have short little outbursts though if things are taken away from you and you do your fair share of stealing toys from Makenzie but for the most part you are a pretty laid back chill baby. J You have never had any issues downing your bottles of milk and are still resisting the pressure to make the transition to a sippy cup. You make a slight growling noise when the bottle is handed to you with excitement which is hysterical! You are quite the picky eater at meal time-what you love one day you might hate the next so it is always a guessing game for mommy. You do prefer fruits definitely over veggies and you won’t eat cheese unless it’s melted on bread or in a grilled cheese sandwich. You are just like your daddy and hate waking up-you are slow to wake up and stretch, stretch, stretch before you will stand up in the crib. You love sitting down in the middle of the floor and flipping through books with your little legs crossed which is just precious and it can keep you content for quite a while. You imitate a lot of what your little sister does and have recently found it amusing to steal her paci and suck on it and have actually done this more and more which we must stop! You are not nearly as active as Makenzie and will actually stay in one spot for longer than a minute, but you are every bit as curious as she is. You love exploring new territories and examining any new toy or object. You are not shy and will go to anyone but you are constantly watching peoples every move and very interested in what they are doing. You can be a little cuddlebug at times when you get sleepy but generally you like to be down and playing! Definitely still a daddy’s girl-you have a look reserved only for your daddy! He is quite special to you. J One precious thing you do is pat us, when we pick you up, you pat our shoulder or back J too cute! We think you might be our animal lover as you light up when you see them!

-Makenzie, oh Makenzie, you are still our spunky little thing! You are like an energizer bunny who never runs out of steam. You hit the ground running every morning and pop right out of your crib in an instant! You LOVE LOVE to be on the go and moving at all times, even if we are trying to get you to eat. You are a complete handful and we can’t take our eyes off you for a second. You rarely stay in one place for more than a minute and are constantly moving to the next toy or activity. You hate anything that restrains you from being free to roam J You love little nooks and crannies and because you are so tiny I think you can fit just about anywhere! A monkey is what you are-climbing in and out of anything you can, doing headstands in your crib to entertain your twin! J You are too funny to watch as you literally don’t stop! You squeal with delight all day long and we love your happy disposition! You are quite social, hence the extreme difficulty of getting you to eat anywhere other than complete solitude in the dark. One day we pray you will outgrow this eating issue that makes our lives quite difficult! Good thing you are so adorable!! You can be a little bashful at times and will climb up into mommy’s lap when you get scared or nervous and hold on tight to mommy’s shirt, but for the most part you will go to anyone and are always fine being left in the nursery or for someone else to watch you! A momma’s girl is an understatement. You love your mommy and she is the one you want to feed you, hold you, & comfort you. You are a great little eater when it comes to finger foods, just not so great at drinking your milk. You have recently learned how to drink from a straw sippy cup which is huge progress! Now if we can just get Maddie Grace to copy you that would be fantastic! You just took your first steps 2 days shy from turning 13 months old and were so proud of yourself. It happened to be at the zoo splash pad and you took 2-3 steps multiple times while we were there! You love reading stories with mommy and will crawl up in my lap if you see me start to read one to Maddie Grace. You definitely don’t want to miss out! You will happily play by yourself as long as mommy or daddy is near you but you often make you way to cry at the edge of the gate if we are out of the fence area until we come retrieve you!

Things you girls are up to:
-You both love being outside at the park, in the swings, or just a stroll in the wagon! You love water-taking baths is such fun for you every single time-looks like a 3-ring circus but it’s entertaining that’s for sure and you have a new love for the splash pad at the zoo!
-You are both struggling to take naps during the day in the same room now as you meet in the corner where your cribs come together and play play play. It is hilarious to listen on the monitor and hear you girls just giggling away. Hard to be frustrated when you are both so cute, but you do need to sleep J You still take 2 naps on days where we are home (1-2 ½ hrs each) and one when we have an activity or play date!
-Still sleeping well at night-bedtime around 8/8:30 and sleeping til 7:30/8ish-we’re loving getting sleep too!
-You are really acting like sisters now and will fight over toys and play tug of war with anything the other one has that you want. Makenzie will even dangle an object in front of MG just asking for it. Where do you learn these kind of things!?!
-Meal time has become increasingly difficult finding things you both will eat and then half of it ends up on the floor when you decide you’ve had enough. MESSY, MESSY doesn’t even begin to describe it!
-LOVE playing peek a boo still and will send you both into laughing mode instantly!
-Teeth count for you girls is still rather low-2 for MG and NONE for Makenzie…
-Makenzie walking; Maddie Grace still crawling J
-You personalities could not be any more different and we LOVE that. So much to enjoy about each of you precious girls! We’ll let you guess who is louder and who is quieter J